Prompted Romance
by desmonstres
Summary: Itachi is the first to fall. Sakura follows not too far behind. This is how they meet and love and grow. [50 prompts. Non-massacre AU. ItaSaku.]


**Well, _hello_ there.** I honestly never thought I would return to the FF community after I initially left. But I've been recently inspired and have found a new obsession in ItaSaku. I thought it would be a good idea to ease myself back into the motion of things by trying a prompt challenge. I randomly found these 50 prompts somewhere (I don't remember from where). The prompt words _may or may not_ be included in my interpretations. I also made it a point to keep each prompt in one continuous sentence in a stream-of-consciousness-y way to add to the challenge a bit. I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope that you, my readers, enjoy the fruits of my creative labor. Happy reading!

* * *

**Prompted Romance**

* * *

**01. Focus  
**"Focus, Sakura," Itachi reprimanded her with a kunai to her throat when he caught her off guard after she had gotten distracted again thinking about an unconscious Sasuke recovering at the hospital after he had taken a fatal hit when their team was on their way back to Konoha; Itachi had kindly offered to spar with her to keep her mind off of the situation—this was how they met.

**02. Room  
**When they shared their first kiss together, it wasn't romantic but rather awkward because she had literally tripped onto his lips, and they hardly knew each other, and when Sakura was finally able to pull away, she laughed, completely unfazed, and good-naturedly joked, "Well, there's certainly room for improvement."

**03. Sink  
**Sakura had unknowingly proved that she was more than just a dodging medic to Itachi the first time he witnessed her sink a kunai deep into the belly of an enemy shinobi with utmost grace and skill and then yanking it out to the side, promptly gutting her opponent.

**04. Story  
**Sakura loved stories and loved telling them even more, and Itachi found himself chuckling at her wild exaggerations and animated movements, in awe that no one could make him laugh quite like she did.

**05. Pool  
**The minute Sakura found out that Itachi had never played pool before, she whisked him away to her favorite bar in the middle of the day and taught him how to play the game, and when he beat her in his first match ever, she declared that it was unfair that he was so good at everything, to which he replied as he lightly pushed her bangs away from her pouting face, "It's only because you're such a good teacher, Sakura," at which she blinked, swatted his hand away in playful irritability, and demanded a rematch.

**06. Hook  
**If anyone were to ask Uchiha Itachi the moment he realized he was hooked, he would tell you that it was the moment that Sakura fell asleep in his arms for the first time.

**07. Maze  
**Sakura grew more and more frustrated as she tried to navigate her way through this maze of feelings that only became even more confusing the more time she spent with her teammate's dreamy brother because he was so strong and kind, and he always offered to walk her home, and he didn't underestimate her skills, and he respected her, and he was surprisingly fun, and wait, did she just call Sasuke's brother dreamy?

**08. Bold  
**He was thankful for her boldness the night he arrived at her door after returning two weeks late from a mission, not completely understanding why he felt such a strong desire to see her immediately, and she unhesitantly jumped into his arms and refused to let go and lightly scolded for coming back so late which really only meant, "_I was so worried_."

**09. Crush  
**The day they all saw Sakura crush a boulder by simply flicking it, Naruto wet his pants, Sasuke paled, Sai twitched, Kakashi excused himself, and Itachi smirked.

**10. Heal  
**Some days, when they had the time, Itachi would purposely let his wonderfully dangerous sparring partner cut and bruise him so that he could feel the warm glow of her hands on his damaged body—and then there were some days she would get in a good hit without his help, but Itachi was never one to complain.

**11. Branch  
**It was on a hot summer day, sitting on the branch of a large tree as they took a well-deserved break from some heavy training, that they shared their second kiss.

**12. Reign  
**"Aniki, Sakura totally has you wrapped around her little finger. You've got that look on your face. It's kind of disturbing. Can you stop?"

**13. Echo  
**Itachi didn't mind that her laughter echoed in his head in those vulnerable few moments right before he slips into sleep each night.

**14. Shadow  
**Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Itachi had completely, head over heels, fallen in love with one Haruno Sakura.

**15. Dusk  
**Dusk, he discovered, was the time of day her emerald green eyes glittered the brightest.

**16. Dawn  
**One of Itachi's favorite pastimes was staying up late with her as they read and did research for the Hokage and then watching the sun break over the horizon together.

**17. Plain  
**When Sakura had confessed to him one day that in her Academy days, she had been made fun of for her larger than average forehead and utter plainness, Itachi slipped his hand into her own, gently lifted her chin to look him in the eyes, and told her that he found her nothing short of spectacular.

**18. File  
**When Itachi overheard Sasuke telling Naruto, "We can't go to Ichiraku. It's _Sakura's_ birthday, not yours, _idiot_. We should go somewhere that makes good tempura. It's her favorite," he filed away that bit of information for later use.

**19. Charm  
**Itachi didn't know whether to be frustrated or impressed at how she could be one of the brightest in her generation but couldn't figure out how to toast bread without burning it nearly every single time; however, she just claimed it was part of her charm.

**20. Plan  
**Because Itachi was a planner, he hardly engaged in spontaneous activity, and when Sakura had discovered that they had the same day off, she took him on an impromptu day trip to the ocean, and even though they could only stay for a couple hours because the ocean was far and they had left in the afternoon, he decided that spontaneity was a trait worth developing because fleeting moments at the ocean with her were so much more precious than any fancy evening he could ever perfectly plan.

**21. Blink  
**The first picture they ever took together, Sakura was distraught—"Oh no! I blinked! Why do you always look so perfect? This is so unfair. We have to take another one!"

**22. Grin  
**When Itachi told her that he liked her smile and found it endearing that she always burned her toast and hoped she would grow her hair out because it was too nice to keep short and enjoyed reading with her into the wee hours of the morning and thought she told the best stories if not for their content then for her excitement and wanted her to be the only one to ever heal his wounds, she couldn't stop grinning for days because Uchiha Itachi had _pretty much told her he loved her_.

**23. Spoon  
**Sasuke almost threw up when he chanced upon his female teammate spoon-feeding his older brother—since when did _Itachi_ do _PDA_?

**24. Panic  
**After the apple vendor sadly notified Sakura that their new shipment had been delayed and wouldn't arrive for another few days, Itachi found her incredibly adorable as she began to panic because "How am I going to go through the rest of this week without my daily apple!?"

**25. Snow  
**It never snowed in Fire country, so the first time Sakura encountered snow was on their mission to retrieve intel from an ally living in the mountains, and as he watched her twirl and dance out in the cold, white flakes floating all around, he thought she was so breathtakingly beautiful.

**26. Patrol  
**"Hey, Izumo, it looks like Itachi and Sakura are back from their mission-wait…oh my god, are they _holding hands_!?"

**27. Opportunity  
**His mother once told him that ninja had fewer opportunities than civilians because a shinobi's life was so much more evanescent, so when he was finally conscious after suffering three feverish nights from taking a poisoned senbon to protect her and was greeted with her relieved face, he immediately grabbed the back of her head with one hand, ignoring all the aches and pains, and kissed her fiercely for the third time and promised that he would tell her and show her, every chance he got, how much she meant to him.

**28. Vertical  
**Itachi didn't know that Sakura had secretly been receiving instruction from Tenten to help increase her vertical, and so the next time they sparred after Itachi had finally fully recovered from his bout with poison, he was mildly surprised when she unexpectedly jumped so high out of the reach of his very large Katon, but most of all, he was proud.

**29. Horizon  
**Sakura didn't trust that Itachi would be faithful; she _knew_ it—because one doesn't trust that the sky is blue; they know it, just as they know the sun will rise above the horizon each day.

**30. Replace  
**When Sakura had to leave the village for six months—it was the longest she had ever been out of Konoha—to study under a master herbalist, it was then Itachi came to realize that nothing and no one could ever replace her vast presence in his life.

**31. Fool  
**Itachi felt like a fool after he had rushed to the Hokage tower one morning to see Sakura again after six long months to only hear from Tsunade-sama that her mission had been extended another four months to receive more concentrated tutoring in antidotes.

**32. Intervention  
**It was when he was on his way back to the Uchiha compound that he realized he really needed an intervention when he preferred her company over solitude.

**33. Gift  
**Itachi didn't care for gifts, but the greatest gift he had ever received was the evening she showed up at his door the day he had received the disappointing news from the Hokage with a huge smile on her face—"Surprise!"—as she told him she had come back to personally report her progress to Tsunade and that she would have to head out again in the morning, but he didn't allow her to say another word as he pulled her into a deep, yearning kiss and carried her inside—that night they made love for the first time.

**34. Restless  
**Sakura grew increasingly restless during her last month abroad as the day she would finally be reunited with Itachi again drew nearer.

**35. Weight of the World  
**He felt the weight of the world lift off his shoulders as he pulled her into his embrace because after ten long grueling months, _she's finally back_.

**36. Wild  
**Itachi loved the way her hair would be wildly splayed out, the pink a stark contrast against the background of his navy blue bed sheets, the morning after a night of passion as the sun crept in through the window and lit up her peaceful, slumbering features.

**37. Harsh  
**It was a harsh reality when it suddenly occurred to him that just because Sakura was a medic did not mean that she was invincible and that she could be taken from him at any given moment, so he embraced her tightly and breathed in her scent and committed her sparkling sea green eyes to memory.

**38. Initiative  
**Sometimes it was fun to take the initiative, especially when that resulted in one always-prepared Uchiha Itachi being caught off guard, so Sakura waited outside the Hokage tower while he debriefed, and when he finally stepped out, she pulled him into a deserted alley and kissed him passionately and reveled in his briefly shocked still form before he relaxed and began kissing her back with full force until she abruptly disentangled herself from him and disappeared, leaving behind a stunned (and unfortunately aroused) Itachi.

**39. Pang(s)  
**The pangs of hunger were really starting to drive her crazy when she heard a knock on the door, crawled out of bed, and saw her knight in shining ANBU armor holding a couple take out containers that smelled of delicious, fresh tempura and a basketful of apples from her favorite vendor.

**40. Primal  
**Itachi didn't exactly consider himself a man of flesh and desires, but nowadays he couldn't deny the primal urge to kiss her and take her to his bed whenever they turned up earth on the training grounds—that deadly gleam in her eyes really turned him on.

**41. Bribery  
**Uchiha Mikoto was not a woman to be messed with and had no need to ever resort to bribery, especially when she smiled that calm-before-the-storm smile of hers and said things like, "My dear, sweet, beloved first-born, why haven't I been formally introduced to your lovely girlfriend yet? You're not ashamed of your own mother, now are you?"

**42. Theft  
**Itachi stopped by Sakura's the morning before their mission, and as he paced around her room waiting for her to finish brushing her teeth, he smiled when he noticed the shirt he thought was lost was instead loosely draped over her chair.

**43. Impatience  
**Sometimes Sakura's patience would really be tested with Itachi because he was just _so_ meticulous about _everything_, and honestly, was it really necessary to sharpen his ninjato for _three hours_?

**44. Pray  
**Sakura knew that they needed to immobilize their opponent if they ever stood a chance at killing him, and as she formulated her plan, she whispered discretely to her taichou, _"Trust me_," but Itachi didn't comprehend the intent behind her words (because of course he trusted her) until their enemy reappeared in between their backs that faced one another to attack with hands boasting of scalding fire, which Itachi easily evaded with a leap, and yet was forced to watch in horror and heart-shattering understanding as his lover, standing firm, had a blazing hand go through her back and out the other side, and she could still somehow give him an ironic smile, blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth, and a slight nod of her head at the ninjato she had watched him sharpen for three hours the night before—it was then that, for the first time, Itachi prayed as he drove his freshly honed sword into her shoulder and through the heart of their enemy.

**45. Merchandise  
**As Itachi sped back to Konoha with all the chakra he could muster sent to his legs to propel him forward while he held a dying girl in his arms that tried her best to heal herself while simultaneously hacking up blood, he didn't know what to think about the possibility of their go-to apple merchant losing her favorite customer.

**46. Survivor  
**The chances of Sakura surviving the Chikatsu Saisei no Jutsu were slim (Neji had barely made it), but she was a born fighter, and when she finally woke up with a victory smile on her haggard face, the first thing she did was complain about how long it was going to take for her hair to grow out again since they had to chop hers off to use for the jutsu, and Itachi didn't know whether to laugh or cry because that was just so _Sakura_, so he did both and held her close.

**47. Captured  
**"Itachi," she croaked weakly, and he wanted to weep for the frail girl by whose bedside he sat, "can we go out by the lake? I want to catch some fireflies," and how could he say no, so he, with great care, picked up the woman he loved in his arms and took her to see the fireflies she couldn't catch.

**48. Uncivilized  
**One might think Haruno Sakura was uncivilized by the way she obliterated everything around her, but Itachi was only grateful as he attentively watched her take out her built up frustrations from one month of bed rest and suffering from immense cabin fever because if she could swing trees around without a huff, it only meant that she had fully recovered, and Itachi couldn't be happier.

**49. Poke  
**It was the first time in so long that they could finally sleep in the same bed after Sakura's terrifying incident, and that morning, Sakura was the first to wake, feeling so very content in his embrace, and as her eyes softened as she took in his relaxed features, she couldn't resist lightly poking him awake because she needed to tell him as soon as possible how much she loved him.

**50. Yes  
**"Sakura, will you marry me?"

* * *

It's been so long since I've done this, so please let me know what you think! And it would be great to hear from all my readers which of my interpretations of the prompts you enjoyed the most.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
